A teacher in Texas, US, convicted of having a s£xual relationship with a student has been graciously allowed to serve out her sentence on probation and not in prison.
In November 2024, 26-year-old Shawnee Nicole Despain hit the headlines after pleading guilty to a charge of an improper relationship between educator and student.
She was accused of sleeping with one of her pupils to the point of getting pregnant for him.
The boy, a 17-year-old, attended Rockdale High School in Texas, where Despain taught agricultural science.
Despain had to resign from her role in September 2023 after an investigation revealed the inappropriate relationship between her and the student.
She was later found to be pregnant, with DNA testing showing her husband was not the father.
However, she initially passed off the baby as her husband’s until everything blew up.
Investigators checked her devices and found proof of grooming on her phone, including text messages professing love.
There was also footage of the teacher having s£x with the pupil on her Snapchat.
She surrendered herself to the authorities on November 7, 2023. She was then charged with child pornography and enacting an improper relationship.
Having an immoral relationship with a student when you are a teacher is a second-degree crime, eligible for up to 20 years in prison.
Despain was lucky to escape any prison term at all as District Judge John W. Youngblood placed her on a 10-year probation.
She also forfeited her teaching license for the offence for which she pleaded guilty, which does not require her to be registered as a s£x offender.
This was against the position of the Milam County District Attorney Brian Price who argued that the accused deserved prison time.
Price observed that if the case were to involve a male teacher and female student, the outcome might have differed.
Price said, “My argument to the judge was she was in a position of power and trust over her students and she used that to abuse this young man, and that is going to affect him his entire life.
“People put in a position of authority and trust should be held to a higher standard, not a lower one.”
